Double Billing
If a patient is discharged from the hospital but is admitted again later that same day by the same physician and for the same diagnosis, can you bill both the discharge and admission?
Question: If a patient is discharged from the hospital but is admitted again later that same day by the same physician and for the same diagnosis, can you bill both the discharge and admission?
Answer: If you can substantiate billing for both, then you can try to bill both.Why do we say "try"? We're guessing that there is a very strong chance that the claim will be denied as a duplicate. Be prepared to appeal. In fact, you may want to print the claim on paper, attach a brief letter explaining the situation, and submit the documentation to support it. We just think that it's likely that the computer edits at the carrier will kick it out.
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